One of the most amazing about startup life is how fantastically high the highs are, how quickly they can turn to dreadful pitiful lows and back again. Your professional life is quite literally one big question mark when you are building it from scratch. The instant you crack some really tough problem you’re a genius. The moment the shit hits the fan, you’re the worlds biggest moron. The stakes Read the article >>
I”m endlessly fascinated with how much people trust Google and other web services with their personal information. Given that the vast majority of google users don”t opt-out of the recording of their web history, and that the Justice department in the USA has subpoenaed millions of search results from Americans, I find the following Google search autocomplete endlessly fascinating. In each Read the article >>
Sometimes I get asked what tools I”d recommend to new lead developers. Many times, these developers are coming from mid-to-large size enterprise companies, where tools are proprietary and aimed towards the enterprise. The toolset for the open web is much different than the ones available in larger companies. Here we go: 1. Version control, and the tools to make sense of it. I can”t emphasize Read the article >>
I”m posting this because I had such a hard time fixing this (and Google didn”t seem to have any articles on how to fix it). If you are trying to add INSERT DELAYED queries to your application, and your rows are not getting inserted into your table, then you should check out your global status and variables: mysql> show status LIKE ”%Delay%”; +————————–+——-+ | Variable_name Read the article >>
I”ve been putting a lot of thought lately into simplifying my workspace to allow greater focus whatever task is current. Here are 5 easy wins I”ve made on my laptop (MBP 15″ running Snow Leopard) in the past month to eliminate distractions and increase focus. 1. Cleanup the Desktop. There are two main things I”ve found really helpful to eliminate distractions on my desktop: Archive every Read the article >>
I love data. I love trying to compare it with more qualitative analyses of my product. I love finding trends in it. But I hate spreadsheets. I need to consume data viscerally. In traditional retail, visitors to a store are in the same physical space as the employees, allowing collection of more ambient data about store ”usage”, e.g. foot patterns, visitor reactions, etc. Not so on the web. Read the article >>
I was having a conversation with my father the other day about the opportunities that advances in science and technology have created for the future-minded and tech-savvy in my generation. He”s a physicist by calling, so it shouldn”t have been a surprise, given the context, when he quoted the founder of classical physics, Sir Isaac Newton: If I have seen further it is only by standing on the Read the article >>
One of the most challenging, and conversely, rewarding areas of software development is managing the relationship between you and your business partners. As a developer, you speak the language of systems. You walk in the specific and precise languages of database, of code, of specifications. Your primary currencies are exact specifications and knowledge. Your job is to translate requirements into Read the article >>
The are a few email faux paux”s I see which regularly find their way into my inbox. Chief among them is the block of fine print below: Please do not reply to this email. Replies to this email will not be responded to or read. To contact us, jump through hoop x, y, or z. Let me get this straight: You expect me to read your email, but you will not read mine if I reply? Morever, you expect me…
I love coding. I love music and coding. My ideal day in the office is one with a long to-do list and a clear calendar. One of my favorite ways to block out background noise is to put on a set of headphones and fire up iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, or Grooveshark. I”ve long wondered why the two activities fit so well together. The music I”m listening to can impact my energy level, level of focus, Read the article >>